May 25, 2017

The Cuba Study Group wholeheartedly supports the introduction of the Freedom for Americans to Travel to Cuba Act by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Jeffry Flake (R-AZ), and 53 additional bipartisan co-sponsors.

U.S. citizens should have the freedom to travel as they wish, thereby spreading goodwill and a deeper understanding of American values around the world. The current travel restrictions placed on them have no parallel for any other country and are vestiges of over fifty years of failed policy. Rather than catalyze political or economic freedom on the island, they have only served to hurt the Cuban people in a misguided attempt to weaken their government.

Lifting the travel ban will have a substantial and positive effect on the lives of ordinary Cuban citizens who have joined the country’s nascent private sector. Instead of being forced to use the government as an intermediary, hundreds of thousands of Cubans who work in independent restaurants, bed and breakfasts, and a wide range of other service professions would have direct access to U.S. currency. Since the average Cuban worker earns $25 a month, even a small influx of American money would have a disproportionate impact on Cubans’ quality of life.

The Cuba Study Group’s support of lifting travel restrictions to the island is aligned with the majority of other stakeholders, including 81% of the U.S. population, 71% of Republicans, and 74% of Cuban-Americans. We encourage Congressional leaders to heed their constituents’ wishes and pass the act into law.